SHAMEFUL

But not surprising. See the story on police brutality at yesterday's L.A. immigration protest, below.

Then read Rosebud #81, #80, and #76 for more on America’s military and counter-intelligence response to dissent.

Since Seattle, legitimate and peaceful protest has been treated like a war zone. This is inevitable in a country with a militarized police and government policies that treat dissenters as the enemy. A democracy can't continue like this. This is not democracy.

Once again, they're blaming the specter of the alleged "anarchists." But the LAPD fired rubber bullets indiscriminately into crowds full of children.

Rubber bullets—the same so-called "less than lethal weapons" used to "disperse crowds" in Iraq—can maim and kill.

I'd really like to see the video, in the hundreds of hours of video shot at the protest, of these alleged anarchists attacking the police. Let's examine who these people really are, if they exist.

I urge everyone to follow this story closely as it unfolds. Also, check out any video that is available. There's nothing more powerfully motivating than watching an American citizen be physically violated for exercising his or her First Amendment rights.

Maybe we can finally see a nationwide call for the end to this violence against innocents, dissidents, which we associate with tyrannical regimes like the Nazis and Soviets. And now our wonderful, free country.


LAPD to Review Use of Force at Immigration Rally
Videos Show Officers Firing Rubber Bullets Into Crowds

LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2007 –

Police Chief William J. Bratton said Wednesday some of the police tactics to clear immigration protesters from MacArthur Park were "inappropriate," as numerous news videos showed officers striking people with batons and firing rubber bullets into crowds that included children.

Images showed police hitting a television cameraman to the ground and shoving people who were walking away from officers at Tuesday's demonstration. Some injured people were seen in the videos, including a Hispanic man with a bleeding welt on his stomach.

Bratton promised an investigation, and said he would discuss the matter further at a press conference later Wednesday.
"Quite frankly, I was disturbed at what I saw," Bratton told KNX-AM. He said the actions of some officers "were inappropriate in terms of use of batons and possible use of nonlethal rounds fired."

The clash at MacArthur Park started after 6 p.m. when police tried to disperse demonstrators who had moved off the sidewalk onto the street. Authorities said several of the few thousand people still at the rally threw rocks and bottles at officers, who fired rubber bullets and used batons to push the crowd back onto the sidewalk.

"(Police) started moving in and forcing them out of the park, people with children, strollers," said Angela Sambrano, director of the Central American Resource Center.

Several people, including about a dozen officers, were hurt. About 10 people were taken to hospitals for treatment of injuries including cuts, authorities said. None of the injuries was believed to be serious. At least one person was arrested, but police have not released a name.

Maria Elena Durazo, the executive secretary-treasurer at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said the trouble was instigated by "a group of anarchists, not associated with the rally."

Spanish-language TV station Telemundo said one of its reporters and three camera operators had been injured and taken to the hospital by police. Several news crews got caught up in the skirmish.

The Radio and Television News Association of Southern California called for an investigation.

"There is evidence that officers knocked reporters to the ground, used batons on photographers and damaged cameras, possibly motivated by anger over journalists photographing efforts by officers to control the movements of marchers," the group said in a statement.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was traveling in El Salvador during a trade mission, said the incident was "a most unfortunate end to a peaceful day."

Protesters marched in cities from Miami to Detroit to San Antonio attempting to convince Congress to create a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Tuesday's protests were far smaller than similar demonstrations a year earlier that drew hundreds of thousands of people in some cities, including Los Angeles.